Thunder was diagnosed with hip displasia at just 4 mos and has undergone surgery on both hips. He is however our success story! He's doing great and we now carry pet insurance! (his surgeries (T*ripple P*elvic O*steoctomy) was approx. 6K!)

We have done a lot of research/reading on this so if we can help anyone out we would be glad to answer any questions.

Wow, a dachsund/lab mix! It boggles the mind. I hope you'll post pictures of him and the others. I guess he's quite a character. You're a real animal lover to take in so many creatures and take such good care of them.

I'm either a real animal lover or certifiable! I've been told that there's a good argument for both! I choose to believe that I love animals! However, with 5 dogs and a cat, I've been told that I have to draw the line! :-) It started with Brandi, our smallest...I just wanted to get her a pal. A friend of mine from work said that her aunt's dachsund was having puppies so I thought GREAT! Since Brandi is half dachsund, they should make great play mates...Tobey is now 55lbs...turns out dad was part lab!!!!! Our family just continued to get larger from there... We are actually looking into buying some land within the next year so that the number of animals we have no longer has to be an issue.

Hi Yhong...I really don't know that much about dachsunds...mine are just mixes and really don't have a lot of the visible characterisitics of them. I have heard that they can have back/hip problems if you're not careful about letting them jump off high places such as beds/couches. My dogs are all fairly large...even Brandi, who although has the shorter legs like the dachsund, is a quite a bit more proportioned like the terrier in her. I'm a big believer in reading and talking to other people for getting info/research. I've noticed that there are quite a few dachsund lovers in this forum. I'm sure you can get some info from them! :-) Until then, just give your pup a lot of love and care and I'm sure that you and he will be just fine!!!!! What is his name?

I'm either a real animal lover or certifiable! . . . We are actually looking into buying some land within the next year so that the number of animals we have no longer has to be an issue.

I know the feeling. Charlie and I live on 60+ acres and raise Angus as well as the dogs. We're planning to breed the Filas - or at least that's the rationalization we're using. Shiva will be 7 months old in March when we plan to get another female puppy, this one from the same bloodlines as our first one, Buffy (yes, Charlie named her for the Slayer) was. The next one we plan to pick up will be a male from a ranch in Yelapa, Mexico. Poor Bimmer! He's raising these pups and they all outweigh him by around 150% when they're grown! He probably things we're certifiable.

One thing to take into consideration when you start looking at land is who your neighbors are. If you can find something very rural where most of your neighbors run family farms and are unlikely to sell to developers you'll be ahead of the game. Just make sure your dogs don't decide to chase cows! And be aware of hazards like coyotes, which are becoming real nuisances all across the country.

Wow Renee...y'all have a lot of land!!! My husband and I are just talkin 'bout like an acre or so...barely a drop in the bucket compared to y'all!!! I just want to be able to take in a lost/homeless dog in need of some love without it being an issue of room...no cows, goats, horses or anything like that! Thanks for the info though...there actually is a lot of deveoping goin on around here...San Antonio is growin like a weed!!!